In the middle of the night, two figures left the hotel and walked towards the Huaihe River embankment.
As September arrived, the weather remained unchanged during the day, but it was a little chilly at night. Zhou wanted to take out a thin coat and put it on.
Ling Ran was a little worried. "Think about it, the water will be very cold later. Your body..."
Zhou Xiang waved his hand and said, "Don't be afraid, I'm wearing dry clothes, I won't be cold."
Ling Ran said no more. This life was different from the previous one.
She entered the space by the river, changed into a diving suit, did some warm-up exercises, put on diving shoes, fins and buoyancy device, put on a mask, and carried the oxygen tank. Ling Ran helped her adjust the rest.
The two men left the space and quietly walked into the Huai River. When the water was above their chests, they bit the mouthpiece on the breathing tube and dived to the bottom of the water.
After the rainy season, the water of the Huai River has returned to clarity, but the moonlight cannot penetrate the water. There are no street lights along the Huai River, and the motor cargo ships are all asleep in the dark.
Jiang Weihua probably didn't think Zhou Xiang would dive at night. There was no diving light in his diving equipment. A big round stone appeared in Zhou Xiang's hand, emitting a bright light.
Ling Ran knew that this was the fluorescent stone that the Heike clan had looted from their treasures. He took Zhou Xiang's hand and dived deeper.
When the two returned, it was already dawn. They simply went to look for breakfast. After searching several places, they found one that had just started steaming buns. The two sat by the stall and waited.
Ling Ran touched Zhou Xiang's cold hand and asked the boss to bring a bowl of spicy soup first.
He added pepper to the soup and told Zhou to drink some while it was hot to warm his body.
After breakfast, they returned to the hotel to catch up on some sleep. After a few days of reversing day and night, they returned to the town. All they needed to do was learn how to swim and use the diving equipment flexibly.
After asking about Lu Jin, Ling Ran told Zhou Xiang to stay at home and try not to go out, and he took Chen and his son to learn diving.
In mid-September, Ling Ran came back and took Zhou Xiang to the county. He had rented a yard from a local product company on the bank of the Huai River, and Chen and his son were waiting there.
Now that everyone has learned how to dive, the investigation will not be carried out at night.
After breakfast every day, we drove south along the river dam and only went into the water to check at the sharp bend of the river.
Every time Chen and his son were left behind, one of them would observe outside the car, while the remaining three would take turns putting on diving suits inside the car and going into the river to investigate.
There is nothing special about the river bottom except mud and various freshwater fish.
This section is the middle reaches, and the deepest water is only a dozen meters deep. After checking the three sharp bends in Huai County, Ling Ran and Uncle Chen prepared a lot of food, brought tableware, fruits and drinking water, and stored them in Ling Ran's ring.
After leaving the yard, they planned to move westward along the Huai River. Half a month later, they arrived at Zhengyang Pass. The journey was more than 100 kilometers, with more than a dozen large and small turns, but they found nothing. Zhou Xiang felt a little discouraged.
Ling Ran comforted her, "It's still over a hundred kilometers west of here to Funan. We'll return after we check this section. West of Funan, there are over twenty major tributaries and a hundred or so smaller ones. We don't have time to check them this year. We'll come back next spring."
Zhou Xiang sighed helplessly, "I'll come back next spring after I've arranged the building. I have a feeling that even after investigating the many tributaries upstream, the final secret should still be within Zhucheng. Otherwise, why are there so many R people in Huai County? The Wan family left, the Ping family came, and now the Ping family is gone, and there's that kid who killed Auntie, and there are other spies we don't know about."
Ling Ran agreed. "Let's finish checking the upstream tributaries and then return to Huai County. There are legends similar to the one the old lady told us about the source of the Huai River in Southern Province. We might find something by unraveling these legends."
"All right!"
He bought steamed buns in a nearby county town, and ordered a lot of cooked dishes from a restaurant. He packed them up and returned to the Huaihe River embankment, and put them into Ling Ran's ring.
It took them more than 20 days to travel the more than 100 kilometers, with more than 20 turns. When they passed by a village, they went into the village to inquire, but there were no ancient legends.
The four people returned to the town exhausted after getting nothing.
Mother Zhou felt sorry for her daughter and Ling Ran when she saw them. "How did you two get yourselves into this state? You're so dark and thin, you look malnourished. Go wash up and get some rest. I'll go to the street and ask your dad to buy some bones to make some soup."
Ling Ran looked at Zhou Xiang, who looked a little dark. He didn't think the little girl was malnourished! Not to mention the Type 5 fruit, he had stewed a lot of soup while preparing, and stored it in the little girl's space. Moreover, every night before going to bed, he would watch over the little girl, letting her sneak into the space and sleep until she was full before coming out.
Zhou Xiang nodded quickly, "Mom! Go find my dad and buy some more vegetables. I'm craving for them."
"Okay! I'll go right away."
After his mother left, Zhou Xiangcai said, "There's a kind of thinness. It's called Mom thinks you've lost weight. If you don't believe me, go back this afternoon and show Aunt Ling. I'm sure she'll say something similar."
Ling Ran took it to heart, "You really have lost weight. Not to the point of malnutrition, but you have lost weight. I deserve a scolding."
"I'll be back after some nourishment. I'll try to eat more and grow faster. Hurry up and have a good sleep. You'll be the one who's truly lost weight."
"Um!"
The two of them accelerated time in the space, and after waking up from a full sleep, they felt refreshed. There were too many things to be wary of with Chen father and son, and they were nervous.
At this time, the two of them were squatting inside the fence wall in front of the thatched hut. More than two months had passed since they last fed the seedlings with good things. The seedlings had already borne fruit, and the herbs had also changed. Some of the leaves had turned red, and some of the leaf tips had grown into star shapes.
Two of the plants kept having three leaves and grew taller, and two others looked very similar to ordinary thatch.
But the plant that the two men thought was cabbage actually bloomed, with layers of white flowers like lotus flowers in a lake.
White lotus?
No, it can’t be snow lotus, right?
As soon as Zhou Xiang had this guess, he teleported to the side of the cabbage. There was a small lotus pod in the middle of the pistil of the white lotus.
"Ling Ran, come over here and take a look."
Ling Ran saw the cabbage flower and the lotus pod inside, and looked at Zhou Xiang. They both said in unison: "Snow lotus seeds?"
Zhou Xiang suppressed his excitement and turned to look at the twenty or so plants. "Perhaps, there are ingredients for Soul Condensing Pills and Soul Nourishing Pills here. Unfortunately, we don't know what they are."
"How about I go back to the team and look through the captain's ancient books?"
Zhou Xiang hesitated for a moment before agreeing, "Alright! At least we have to identify these."
"Then, should we collect those blood-activating and blood-stasis-removing herbs in the outer circle?"
"No, keep it and collect it when needed. The longer you keep it, the better the effect of the medicine should be."
After leaving the space, Zhou Xiang called his elder brother, but he didn't know what was going on with his elder brother.
Zhou Niao was very happy when she received the call from her sister. "Lu Zhaochong took me to many places. This time, I painted landscape paintings. I want to show these in next year's exhibition."
"Okay!" The eldest brother's tone was obviously much more mature. It is good to go out and see more.
After chatting with his eldest brother for a while, he asked his eldest brother to give the phone to Lu Zhaochong to answer. He still had to communicate with Lu Zhaochong before he felt at ease.
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